Cuba Project

Changing Perspectives on the Cuban Revolution — Thur, Dec 8, 4PM

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:12:51 +0000

Samuel Farber, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Brooklyn College, and Carlos Alzugaray, Visiting Professor of History at Queens College and Professor at Havana University, will share their perspectives on the Cuban Revolution. This event will mark the launching of Farber’s new book, Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment (Haymarket Books).

For more information visit the event page here.

Location: Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street), New York Room: 9206/7, Time: 4:00 PM

The Cuban American Transition? Mon, Nov 21, 4PM

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:27:25 +0000

Guillermo J. Grenier, Florida International University, has conducted The Florida International University Cuba Poll since 1991. It provides evidence of the changes and continuity of Cuban-American attitudes and behaviors towards the island as well as towards U.S./Cuba policy. Dr. Grenier, will present the most recent results from the 2011 Cuba poll completed in September of this year with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at FIU. This talk will feautre Lisandro Perez, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY as discussant and Mauricio Font, The Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, as moderator.

For more information, please visit the event page here.

Location: Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street), New York Room: 9206/7, Time: 4:00 PM

New Books on Cuban Culture and Art — Fri, Nov 11, 4PM

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:04:40 +0000

Carlos Riobó, The City College of New York and Bildner Center, and his collaborators will present his book Cuban Intersections of Literary and Urban Spaces (SUNY Press), an examination primarily of Havana as a center where urban and literary spaces often come together. Some of the areas of study are urban gardens, architecture, urban planning, cultural institutions, the built environment, social policies, access to books, and literary projections of space onto the metropolis. This book peeks at a dynamic nation through its cultural interstices at a crucial moment in Cuba’s evolving history.

Ana María Hernández, LaGuardia Community College and Bildner Center, will present her edition of Fantoches 1926, a collective crime mystery by eleven authors and illustrators associated with Havana’s Grupo Minorista from the 1920’s. The presentation will focus on the formation and activities of the Grupo Minorista, the echoes of the French avant-garde in Cuban literary publications, and the early manifestations of Afro Cuban themes in Cuban high art. The authors and illustrators include Carlos Loveira, Jorge Mañach, Rubén Martínez Villena, Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, Max Henríquez Ureña, José Manuel Acosta, Rafael Blanco and Enrique Riverón.
For more information, please visit the event page here.
Location: Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street), New York Room: 9204/5, Time: 4:00 PM

American Cultural Influences in Contemporary Cuba — Mon, Nov 7, 4PM

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:49:16 +0000

Alfredo Prieto, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC), will discuss the prevalence of United States culture in Cuba. During this presentation, specific components of the US cultural presence in Cuba will be highlighted, particularly from the 1990s until today. Special attention will be given to the island’s popular culture, music, and literature vis–à–vis recent changes operated in Cuban society and on its cultural policies. US cultural influence has been inevitable, not only because of its political confrontation and geographical proximity with Cuba but also because of the numerous visits of Cuban Americans to the island, money remittances and many other factors. The idea is to maintain and even readjust dynamic and flexible cultural strategies. And in doing so, it is also, and chiefly, a way of inserting the world into the Republic while preserving the sap and stem of national identity. This talk will feature Araceli Tinajero, The City College of New York and The Graduate Center,as discussant and Carlos Riobó, The City College of New York and Bildner Center, as moderator.

For more information, please visit the event page here.
Location: Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street), New York Room: C-198, Time: 4:00 PM
THIS TALK WILL BE IN SPANISH!

Economics Presentations

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:23:32 +0000

At our recent international symposium Cuba Futures: Past and Present we featured dozens of outstanding presentations by academics from around the country and the world. So far, we have published three volumes of papers from this conference that you may download here for free. Additionally, you may view the presentations on the economy in Cuba given by the following panelists:

New Developments in Economic Policy in Cuba — Tue, July 19, 4 PM

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:46:19 +0000

Hilary Becker, Assistant Professor of accounting at Carleton University, Mario González-Corzo , Associate Professor of economics and Director of the Master of Science (M.S.) in Business Program at Lehman College, CUNY, and Mauricio Font, director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies and professor of sociology at The Graduate Center and Queens College, CUNY will discuss the latest developments in economic policy in Cuba, elaborating on papers presented at the Cuba Futures conference in April 2011. A brief update on the Cuba Futures Publication Series will be presented. For more information, visit the event page here.

Location: Graduate Center, Rooms 9206/9207, 365 Fifth Avenue (@ 34th Street), New York

Time: 4:00 PM

Cuba Project in the News

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:59:12 +0000

The Graduate Center’s monthly “365 Fifth” publication highlighted the Bildner Center and the Cuba Project last month in two pieces about the project’s recent Cuban Ballet event and international Cuba symposium “Cuba Futures.”

Rachel Ramírez writes of the spring ballet event:

“It’s a story that I had to tell about my country, and it’s full of sadness and hope,” said
Octavio Roca, dance critic for the Washington Post. He was speaking about the Ballet
Nacional de Cuba, the subject of his new book Cuban Ballet (2010), at a February 4
panel discussion. Joining him were Caridad Martinez, a former principal dancer in the
company, and Ana María Hernández, a professor of education and language acquisition
at LaGuardia Community College. Mauricio A. Font (Prof., Queens, Sociology),
director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, which sponsored the
event, served as moderator.

About the Cuba Futures conference, she wrote:

“The story of Cuba’s economy is complicated, and not quite as rosy a picture as that
painted by Cuba’s gross domestic product statistics,” said Carleton University scholar
Archibald R. M. Ritter on March 31 at the opening plenary of “Cuban Futures: Past
and Present,” the conference that addressed Cuba’s recent social movements and reforms
in sixty panels over three days.

Welcome to CubaProject.org!

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:55:56 +0000

Welcome to the brand-new home of the Cuba Project! Since 2001, the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies has been home to the Cuba Project, a collaborative effort to study changes in Cuban politics, economics, culture, and society. Today, the project finds a new online home at CubaProject.org.

This site will feature and highlight the varied events, conferences, initiatives, and publications of the Cuba Project in an attractive and easy to use space. Giving the project a site of its own is the natural next step in the growth of this program.

We hope you enjoy the new site and look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events!